Whoosh

Bullet Time seizes an instant.

And Ghostly Shadowless grants, for that same instant, tremendous speed along with evasion and concealment.

The synergy when the two are chained together is nothing short of staggering.

That was why, if any attempts were left over, I had planned to give Seo Ye-in the first crack at it.

She hadn't contributed a thing to the process of acquiring Ghostly Shadowless, but—

'A deal is more than possible.'

Anyone else, and I'd have haggled first, but I already had a healthy partnership established with Haeseong Group. They would gladly pay compensation even for services rendered in advance.

All the more so for a skill as powerful as Ghostly Shadowless.

Besides, I'd reaped the rewards of my lucky mascot's fortune plenty of times, so I was inclined to be generous with the math.

The only problem was that the human sloth had a habit of dropping to half motivation or less on weekends. If I'd simply asked, "Want to come learn a skill?" she'd most likely have gone right back to sleep.

So the option I chose was—

'Operation: Pique Her Curiosity.'

I summoned her out first and demonstrated Ghostly Shadowless right in front of her, and the operation worked splendidly.

Just look at Seo Ye-in's eyes, sparkling and shining.

I tossed out the question as casually as I could.

"Want to learn it?"

"Yeah."

"Right this way, then."

I led Seo Ye-in to the front of the square stage and gave her a brief rundown of the Trial of the Illusion Demon: an illusion formation was in place, and once you stepped inside, the statues would attack.

"—So all you have to do is step on the footprints as hard as you can. Got it?"

"Got it."

Seo Ye-in nodded slowly, walked to the center of the stage, and stood there. In an instant, mist billowed up like a rolling cloud.

Go Hyeon-woo watched with a face full of intrigue.

"I do wonder. How many attempts will Lady Seo need, I ask?"

"Two should do it."

"That is my estimate as well."

Once again, however, our predictions sailed clean past the mark.

When the mist cleared, Seo Ye-in looked back and forth between the two of us, then slowly raised one hand and drew a V.

Meaning: success.

"Hooh."

"She cleared it in one try."

Beyond overwhelming — it was violent talent.

Seo Ye-in stepped down from the stage and walked toward us.

I waited until she got reasonably close, then—

"Whoosh."

—used Ghostly Shadowless and slipped backward.

When I beckoned from a distance, Seo Ye-in stared at me blankly for a moment, then—

"Whoosh."

—used Ghostly Shadowless in exactly the same way and followed after me.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Go Hyeon-woo observed the whole exchange with a doting-father smile on his face.

The five-minute cooldown was probably ticking anyway, so I figured the teasing could end there.

I pulled two random boxes out of my inventory.

"Since we're all gathered, let's knock these out too."

"An excellent notion."

Go Hyeon-woo brightened and drew out his own random box.

He wouldn't be asking Seo Ye-in to open his for him, of course — the idea was simply to bask in lucky-mascot energy from nearby.

Fair enough. And I took out one more item.

The Random Box Enhancement Scroll.

A reward granted for clearing Main Quest 2-1; two had dropped, and Hong Yeon-hwa and I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had split them one each.

'Wonder if she put hers to good use.'

She surely hadn't wasted it on a D-rank box, right?

That would be a shame.

Setting the thought aside, I activated the scroll.

A bright light seeped into the Gathering of Evildoers random box.

- Fwoosh!

The scroll had applied: one B+, one B.

Now every last preparation was complete.

I presented the random boxes to the Honored Lucky Mascot with the utmost ceremony.

"Please, open them."

"……"

Seo Ye-in took them and gazed down at them for a long moment.

She picked up the B-rank box first and flipped the lid open.

- FLARE—!

"Mm."

"Mm."

A burst of light bright as a flashbang went off, but having endured it many times already, Go Hyeon-woo and I had our eyes covered well in advance.

As the light died down, what emerged was a tightly rolled magic scroll.

"First I've seen of it. How is such an item used?"

"Just what it says. It adjusts the fine details of a skill."

Every skill inevitably comes with a variety of parameters — power, range, duration, and so on. Use this, and you could tailor a skill a little closer to the user's taste.

'Lucky. I actually needed this.'

That said, if I had to price it, a B-rank item like this fell somewhat short of a jackpot.

Given that Seo Ye-in had opened the B-rank box first, it seemed her luck hadn't kicked in on the first try. I still hadn't figured out what exactly her trait was, but it was capricious in all sorts of ways.

So I asked her.

"Showing it off now, are you?"

"……Not yet."

Seo Ye-in held my gaze for a few seconds, then shook her head side to side. Then she turned her eyes toward Go Hyeon-woo.

"Very well. I shall open mine first, then."

"Good luck."

"My thanks. For some reason, I have a good feeling today."

Go Hyeon-woo lifted his random box with a smile.

Still, being only B-rank, he seemed a touch nervous — his hand worked the lid open with care.

- FLARE—!

"Oh."

"Oh……"

We let out gasps of admiration at the same time, because the burst of radiance was nearly identical to the last one.

Similar effects meant a similar caliber of item inside.

When the light faded, a thick wild ginseng root rested in Go Hyeon-woo's hand.

"An elixir, just the thing for you."

"Indeed. At this rate, my fortunes seem to be in fine order."

A satisfied smile settled on Go Hyeon-woo's lips.

For a martial artist, an elixir that immediately bolstered his internal energy was more useful than an ambiguous B-rank item, even if the rank was somewhat lower.

Counting the Hyeon-o he'd received as his share, he'd now secured two C+ rank elixirs from this dungeon run alone.

Even so, an item below the box's own rank had appeared, so the attempt counted as a failure and a stamp was banked.

'A tidy little haul.'

All that remained was the long-awaited B+ random box.

"Ready?"

"Ready."

At my question, Seo Ye-in gave a small nod and rested her hand on the lid.

And the moment she flipped it open—

- KWAHAAAAAH—!

—a blinding radiance erupted, along with a powerful aura that billowed out with it.

It was so forceful it felt as though it were physically pushing us back.

Before long, what rested in Seo Ye-in's hands instead of a random box was a dark navy hoodie.

It looked like a daily-life item on the surface, but that was far from the truth.

An item whose every stat was devoted, wholesale, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to one thing: meditation — that is, mana cultivation.

Ten hours of mana cultivation would yield a monstrous fifteen hours' worth.

And on top of that, the auxiliary effects were nothing to sneeze at either.

'This is practically endgame-tier.'

All the more so considering it was a full A+ rank, and dedicated meditation equipment was rare to begin with.

It was telling that even Go Hyeon-woo, who had almost no appetite for gear, sent an envious glance its way.

"Hooh. Even I covet that one."

"No. You'll content yourself with the Special Meditation Room."

I practically lived at the Training Center myself, so this was non-negotiable.

My Core wasn't far from B-rank, after all.

Meanwhile, Seo Ye-in was slowly stroking the hoodie, seemingly more interested in its texture than its stats.

It did look, at a glance, silky soft and impossibly plush.

But even for Seo Ye-in, I couldn't hand this one over. I held out my hand.

"Give it here."

"……"

Whereupon Seo Ye-in hugged the hoodie tightly to her chest in open protest.

And then, to pour fuel on the fire—

"Whoosh."

—she cast Ghostly Shadowless and retreated a good distance away.

Had the cooldown already come back around?

Regardless, no meant no.

I shook my head slowly and waved my hand.

"No. Come back."

"……"

At that, Seo Ye-in trudged back and placed the hoodie in my hand.

The moment I received it, I put the hoodie on, pulled the hood up over my head, drew the drawstrings all the way tight, and tied them off in a neat bow.

"Everyone, cast off your worldly desires. This one is mine."

Even so, Seo Ye-in's eyes lingered on the hoodie, reluctant to let go.

Before long she was tugging gently at my sleeve, then produced a thick black card and held it up for me to see.

"……?"

"Not for sale. It's not for sale."

Despite the repeated refusals, Seo Ye-in still couldn't take her hands off the hoodie.

She really, truly wanted it.

When it came to this, there was only one drastic measure left.

"Then I'll give you a choice. Option one: spend summer break with Kim Ho. Option two: spend summer break with the hoodie."

"……!"

Unable to give up either one, Seo Ye-in's eyes darted back and forth between the hoodie and me, again and again.

After a long deliberation, something seemed to dawn on her, and her eyes widened slightly.

"……Butler?"

"No — pick one of the two."

After seeing Go Hyeon-woo and Seo Ye-in off, I sat alone in the middle of the Mana Cultivation Room.

Part of me ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ached to test the Recluse Master's Hoodie's overwhelming performance right then and there, but first there was business to attend to.

Item number one courtesy of the lucky mascot: the Tuning Scroll.

I'd felt the need for one for a while now, and of course I already had a use picked out for it.

Broken down to its finest details, Amplification worked like this: designate one of the user's or an ally's skills or traits and raise it two tiers. Duration and cooldown scaled with rank.

Of these, "one target" and "two-tier rank-up" were, regrettably, off-limits. Add a second target, and the rank-up would drop to a single tier in exchange.

So what had my attention was—

'Duration.'

Looking back, the battle with the Twin Poison Winged Demons had felt uncomfortably close.

The poison resistance I'd bestowed on my party had held at S-rank for a mere five minutes.

If the pair had changed their minds midway and pulled back, or dragged things out into a war of attrition, we'd likely have been in serious trouble.

Of course, as Amplification's rank rose, its duration would grow and its cooldown would shrink. But that alone wasn't enough — hence the tuning.

Doubling the duration had sent the cooldown swelling to more than double in return. The skill had gotten considerably heavier.

'Still, heavy beats light.'

I'd be leaning on Octopus Legs plenty going forward, which meant cooldowns would stretch from hours into days.

Since I'd be waiting a long time regardless, it was better to make the payoff dramatic whenever I did use it.

Besides, in the mid-to-late stages I'd be picking up time-manipulation skills and items, which would loosen my cooldown management even further.

And that was all the tuning there was.

'Now for the main event.'

I laid out the items I'd gathered over the course of this dungeon run.

Assorted poisonous herbs dug from the weed field, and the wooden chests Jang Mu-geuk and Wang Chunsam had handed over as the price of Ghostly Shadowless.

Every last one of them had been acquired in service of a single goal.

'The Main Quest.'

The Witch of Decay's signature skillset was poison-based. I already possessed S-rank Poison Resistance, but as the Twin Poison Winged Demons had proven, poisoning was unavoidable.

I needed to prepare an even more powerful trait.

For instance—

'Ten Thousand Poisons Immunity.'